“I know artists with more than 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify who are not getting anywhere because no one cares”: Afrojack says “hype” is key to success
“At the same time, there are artists with almost no monthly listeners and they’re playing fucking everywhere – because they have hype.”
Image: Tim Mosenfelder / Getty Images
Nick van de Wall AKA Afrojack has spoken about the importance of “hype” for young producers looking to catch their big break in the music industry.
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The DJ/producer recently launched a new programme called WALL Academy, which aims to provide support and education for budding talents in the music scene.
Speaking to MusicTech, Afrojack says that oftentimes, a lack of success in an artist’s music career is not due to a lack of talent, but rather “a lack of knowledge about how the music industry works, how to network, [and] how to get your records played.”
“I know artists with more than 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify who are not getting anywhere because no one cares. At the same time, there are artists with almost no monthly listeners and they’re playing fucking everywhere – because they have hype.”
Of the ever elusive “hype”, Afrojack says that one of the major goals of his programme is to teach young music makers how to go about self-promoting as well as how to build hype systematically.
“There are so many tutorials on YouTube about how to make music, and there are so many tutorials about how to be a successful entrepreneur. Even though you’re going to need both if you want to make it in a creative industry, for some reason, no one thought to bring these two things together. So that’s a really big part of what we’re trying to teach.”
At the end of the day, Afrojack believes that “It is possible to achieve a level of success in the music industry if you abide by a certain discipline and certain rules.”
“A lot of people will say ‘it’s all luck.’ Well, sure, luck is part of it; playing the Tomorrowland mainstage as a headliner requires some luck. But a base level of success, like playing local clubs or having enough records out that people will buy tickets to see you on tour, this is completely possible to do.”
You can read the full interview with Afrojack on MusicTech.com.
